Emory
by Mashp14
Summary: AU after the curse breaks. Regina leaves after two years of being ignored and ridiculed by the town. Years later Regina wants to adopt again. When she meets Emory, a sweet and reserved girl, she falls in love. The only thing is, Emory suffers from terrible migraines. While Regina tries to help Emory, things are going on in Storybrooke that will drag her bag to protect her family.
1. Chapter 1

**This is going to be a story about Regina attempting to move on by adopting again. She meets my OC, Emory, which I got the name from an awesome TV show called Star-Crossed. Which was canceled.** **Emory has migraines and has no one to help her deal with them until Regina. I have migraines so this is just my experience with them. Many people experience them in different ways. I have had them for 16 years and have not found a cause or treatment for them so there probably isn't going to be a happy ending in that sense. There is no romance in my stories because I can't write that and have no interest in getting into shipping wars. This is just a family fic.**

 **Set 5 years after the curse broke**

 **Chapter 1**

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

I groan and roll over to look at the time. Eight o'clock flashes in bright red lights on the alarm clock I set last night for the first time in over a year. I groan again and hit snooze before I roll back over and crawl deeper into the covers.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

I hear the same noise again. I look at the time and it's 8:10. I sigh and through the covers off of me before turning the alarm off and finally getting out of bed. I head towards the bathroom to take a shower in my three-bedroom house that I purchased a year and a half ago, a little over a year after I moved here to South Carolina. Leaving Storybrooke was one of the hardests things I have ever had to do. But I was not wanted nor needed there. So I decided to go my own way. Start over. So far it has had a good turn out. I stayed in an apartment for a year until I decided I needed to get at least a part time job. I looked through options available and found an opening for a chef on the weekends. It was perfect. So I was hired and a couple months later bought my house to be closer to work. It was much homier thatn the mansion back in Storybrooke. Which had a big part in helping me decide to try adoption again. This time I am going to adopt an older child. I don't want to be faced with the decision again on whether or not to tell them they are adopted and be hated for it. Which to me is a big reason for mine and Henry's fall out. Whether he believes that or not. Which leads me to today. Meet and Greet day for the local group home. All the kids from Gwinnet's Group Home for Girls go to the Rec center for a day and meet local people looking to adopt.

Getting out of the shower, I blow dry my hair straight which doesn't take long because I recently cut my hair short again to make my job easier. Once I get dressed I head down stairs to make coffee.

While I wait for it to brew I look at the time. 9:30 am. The meet and Greet starts at eleven and goes until five. It is supposed to give the adults and the children real time to get to know each other.

I hear the coffee maker go off to let me know it's ready. As I poor myself a cup of coffee I mentally go over in my head the schedule for this morning. It takes me so minutes to get to the Rec center, so I have to leave by 10:30 am. That means I have forty-five minutes until I need to leave. I plop down on the couch in front of the TV and turn on the news. I start to lose interest in the TV and look down at my outfit. My wardrobe has drastically changed since I lived in Storybrooke. Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying my wardrobe is filled with faded jeans and plad shirts. But it's also not filled with power suits either. I have on dark blue skinny Miss Me jeans with a cream-colored razor back tank top and matching heals. It may be a little fancy for the Rec center but I always like to look my best. I could have worn one of my sun dresses but I wanted to be able to play with kids and didn't want, trying to keep my modesty to interfere with that.

After forty-five minutes had past I got my purse off the counter and went to get into my 2013 Jeep Grand Cherokee. On the way I turned on the radio and Headlights by Eminem came on. My eyes tear up as I listen to the words. It comes a little to clos to home for me. My hopes for Henry and I dwindle as the song comes to the end and he says, "I hope you get this message that I will always love you from afar." That's how it has to be. I keep telling myself. I shake myself out of my funk as I pull into the Rec parking lot.

 **This is a really short chapter I know. The next one will be really long because Regina and Emory will meet and be together the whole day. I hopefully will have it up tomorrow. This will eventually involve Storybrooke in present time and what happened before and after Regina left.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for the people who reviewed. I love your thoughts and comments. One thing I would like to say is I don't have a beta so all mistakes are mine. I'm pretty lazy so I don't edit as much as I should. I forgot to put this in the first chapter but I don't own OUAT or it's characters. But Emory the character is mine and the name goes to Star-Crossed. The Storybrooke issue isn't going to come up right away. The beginning is reserved for Emory and Regina to get comfortable with each other. I'm sorry I know these are long and I don't even know if you read them, but I like to get my thoughts out. Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 2**

As I step into the Rec center I immediately smell sweat and children. But as I look around I only see two women sitting at a long white table that has papers strewn all over it. I assume they are in charge so I walk up to the table and smile at the two women. The women smile back as they see me approach.

"Hello, welcome to Meet and Greet for Gwinnet's Group Home for Girls. My name is Claire and this is Misty. We regularly volunteer at GG's and all the girls here are so excited to meet all the adults." I smile at the cheerful women and shake their hands.

"Hello, my name is Gina Wylie, and I'm sure all of us are just as excited as they are." The two women nod and hand me a nametag. " Write your name on this and you can go through those double doors that lead outside where the children are. Here is an itinerary for today, and notice lunch is at 12." I nod a thank you and head towards the double doors Claire pointed to. I place the nametag on my chest and push through the doors.

Looking all around me I see children running around in the grass, some playing on a playground, and some playing basketball. The adults were scattered around with children as well. There looked to be six couples here at the moment. Two of the couples were watching the basketball court, one couple was at the playground and one couple was sitting in the grass watching the children play and talking to the house mother of GG's. I had seen her picture on the brochure. The other two couples were sitting at a table chatting with drinks in there hands.

I walk over to the playground to try and meet some of the children. None of the other adults seemed to be interacting with the children. After about two minutes I understand why. The children are ignoring us. They are in there own little world. They look like they will never stop going up and down the slide or pumping their legs yelling higher. It is making me tired just watching them. One little girl who looked to be six or seven was trying to swing herself but her legs wouldn't do it. I step up to the swing set and introduce myself. "Hello, my name is Gina. What's yours?" I try and smile as least threatening as possible. The little girl immediately stops trying to swing and jumps off before holding her hand out.

"My name is Brooke." I shake her hand and release it before asking another question.

"How old are you, Brooke?" She jumps around excited before answering. "I'm six years old." I smile at her enthusiasm.

"Wow, cool! Would you like me to help you push on the swing?" She jumps right back on the swing and grins up at me.

"Yes, please." I smile at her manners and begin to push her. The other two girls come over and want to be pushed to. I learn one girl's name is Piper and she is seven. The other girl's name is Monica and she is six like Brooke. After about thirty minutes of pushing the three of them I look towards the couple that has been sitting and watching the playground and they were glaring at me. I look down at the girls and realize they might have been waiting for the right moment to come and interact with the girls. So I decide to go and meet the other girls. I get them to go back to playing with each other and drop a hint that maybe the other adults might help them swing as well.

I walk over to the grass area to talk to the other girls. These children were sitting in a circle and playing Duck, Duck, Goose. I watch them for about ten minutes. Not wanting to interrupt their game, I listen for their names. The little blonde girls name is Astrid. Rachel has light brown hair. Morgan and Jessica have dark brown hair and Dejiah has black hair.

I walk over to the basketball court and see four girls playing a two-on-two game. As I watch, I notice one girl who was good, but she wasn't as aggressive as the other girls. She could fake right and go left but when she is blocking the basket she always shies away from the girl plowing into her, unlike the other girls who use elbows and legs to get to the basket or defend it. She looks like she is concentrating really hard on the ball as she dribbles to the basket and goes for a lay up. It goes in and she turns around with a big smile on her face only to see that the other girls are waiting to start the next play, not acknowledging that the girl had just scored a basket. She shakes her head and wipes the smile off her face and goes to grab the ball.

A whistle blows and Claire and Misty and Maggie, the housemother, usher everybody towards the tables for lunch. There is a buffet set up and we all go through the line. I sit down across from the girl I was watching play basketball in hopes to talk with her. Once everyone is sitting down and eating Maggie stands up and introduces herself. She tells the children to introduce themselves so they go around one by one and say their names. The basketball girls were the ones I didn't know the names of so I waited for them. The first girl from the court says her name is Chloe and she is twelve. The girl sitting beside her said her name is Callie and she is eleven. Next to her stood a blonde girl who says her name is Bentley and she is twelve. The last girl to stand up is the girl I so badly want to get to know. She introduces herself as Emory and she says she is ten. Emory seems to not want the spotlight on her as she quickly plops down onto her seat and tilts her head down. I smile at her actions.

Everyone goes back to eating and chatting. Emory is directly in front of me but I can't here what the girl whispering in her ear is saying. Whatever it was must not have been important because Emory doesn't give any acknowledgement to what she says. Emory doesn't seem to interact with any of the other kids. She does keep looking at the girl named Morgan who was talking to Rachel. I feel myself frown in confusion. Brooke is talking a mile a minute to me and I try and pay attention.

Thankfully Maggie announces and arts and crafts section is open. I see Emory walk inside the Rec to where the arts and crafts are. I don't know why but I feel a connection with this girl. So I follow with some other girls and another couple. When we get to the craft room Emory is already sitting at a table with what looks like chalk pastels and black paper. I walk up to her table and sit on the chair next to her. I try not to jostle the table and mess her up as I lean over to try and get a look at what she is doing. She keeps looking at a pot of flowers. I look over at her paper again and am surprised at how well drawn and colored it is so far. I look up at her face to see her watching for my reaction. I gently smile at her and touch her hand.

"That looks beautiful, honey. Where did you learn to draw like that?" I ask actually curious for the answer.

She blushes and looks down at her paper. "I don't know. I just do it. Sometimes they come out good and sometimes they come out all wrong. Thank you." I squeeze her hand and smile.

"Your welcome, Emory. My name is Gina. Do you mind if I continue to sit and chat with you?"

She looks around at the other people in the room before shaking her head.

"No, I don't mind. Thank you for coming over and talking to me."

This confuses me slightly but I brush it off. "It's not a problem. You seem like a very interesting person."

She looks a little surprised. "I'm not really, but we can still talk. What do you like to do?"

I smile at her and answer her question. "Well, I used to ride horses but I haven't in a while. Right now I am a part time chef."

"Both of those sound awesome." She says with her eyes stretched wide.

"What do you like to do besides drawing and playing basketball?"

She blushes again and looks down. "I didn't know you were watching. I'm not very good but it's fun. I also play soccer, and love to watch hockey."

"You did fine from what I could tell. You just aren't as aggressive as the other girls. What is your favorite team to watch?

She all of a sudden looks like she is about to come out of her seat with excitement. "Locally I am a big fan of Greenville Road Warriors. Nationally I pull for the New York Rangers. I am most likely never going to get to go to a game for either team but I love watching the games on TV."

The joy she has while she is talking about things she loves brings a smile to my face. She just looks so cute bouncing up and down in her seat. The rest of the hour she talks about her favorite players and fights she has seen on TV. I notice as the time passes she gets quieter and paler. She starts rubbing her right eye and nose. She starts breathing heavy and I start to get worried. "Honey, are you okay?"

She nods her head yes and runs out of the room. I follow her at a brisk pace to see her leaning over a huge trashcan. I run up behind her and hold her hair back. I rub her back and I speak softly to her. "It's okay, I'm sorry. Just let it out."

She breathes deeply for a minute before lifting her head up. She still looks very pale and she has sweat coming down her face from the excursion. "Are you okay? Do you need me to get somebody?"

She shakes her head no and crouches down on the floor and tucks her head down on her knees. "Nothing helps." She moans.

She looks awful. She looks like she's dying. I turn to look around, hoping Claire or Misty is around. I spot Misty and wave her over. As she gets closer I see her shoulders sag and hear her sigh when she sees Emory.

"Honey, I'm sorry. I don't think any of us thought about the date. But I can't leave because Claire just had to leave. We can't just have Maggie watching the group now can we." Misty tried to get Emory to smile.

None of what she said made sense to me. What does the date have to do with her being sick? I look down at Emory and see she is wiping her eyes but still holding her head down. I look back to Misty before I speak. "I could take her back to the group home."

 **So I would love some more reviews. I should have to next chapter up tomorrow. Don't expect daily updates after June. I am taking summer classes right now so I'm procrastinating as hard as possible right now. When I'm done, it will mostly be vacation, vacation, vacation.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you again for all the reviews. I love them. If you have any questions or comments please don't be afraid to let me know. I really want people to enjoy this story.**

 **Chapter 3**

Misty looks unsure but then looks down at Emory again. She nods her head at me. " I will go and get the keys to the house." I crouch down at eye level with Emory. "Is that okay? Me taking you to the group home, I mean." She looks up at me with the most pitiful look I have ever seen. "I don't care." She mumbles out between sobs. I'm about to comment when Misty comes back with keys and a pair if sunglasses. She hands me the keys and hands Emory the sunglasses.

"Let me go and get her bag while you get her in the car." Misty says as she walks away. I look down at her to try and gouge her size to see if I can carry her to my car. She seems a lot tinier in a ball like that.

'"Do you want me to carry you to the car?" I ask timidly. She nods her head and lifts up her arms. She isn't to heavy and I'm able to get her into my Jeep right as Misty shows up with Emory's bag.

"Be safe." Misty says before leaving to go back into the Rec center. I look in the review mirror to see Emory laid out in the back seat with a grocery bag at the ready just incase. "Will you turn up the air conditioning to full blast and make it the lowest temperature?" She asks.

"Sure, honey." I turn it all the way up. "We will be back at the group home soon. Just hold on."

Apparently my words are of little help because she throws up three more times before we get there. We pull up to a Victorian looking house. There's a huge yard in the front of the beige colored house. I get out of the car and move to open the back seat. When I open it, Emory lifts her head from the bag. If not for her being sick I would probably have laughed at the huge bug looking sunglasses that swallow her face. I decide I will ask questions later. I lean in to pick her up. "Come on, honey. I'll get us both inside." I walk up the pathway holding the ten year old. When we get to the door I sit her down so I can unlock it. As I step in and move to turn on the light I feel her grab my arm.

"No. Don't. It's to bright." This really doesn't help me although it does answer the sunglasses questions.

"Okay, where is your room?" She walks up the stairs and opens the door to the second room on the left. Her room is very chaotic. On her desk she has stacks of paper that look like drawings and writing. She has a green bed spread and bare walls but she does have a little TV on her desk. Nothing's clean. She has clothes everywhere on the floor and her bed isn't made. I shake off the mess and look to see Emory move the trashcan that was beside her desk next to the bed. "Can I get you anything?" I ask as she climbs into the bed. She shakes her head but then pauses.

"Well, I would like a cold wash cloth if you don't mind." Her face is completely tensed up, her face is almost grey looking and she keeps rubbing her hand above her right eye. I nod okay and go in search of the bathroom. When I have the cold wash cloth I walk back into the room and close the door to find it pitch black. She must have put a curtain over the window.

"Emory, I have that wash cloth for you." I try and remember where the bed was when I knock into it. I hear rustling from the bed.

"Thank you." I feel her grab it from me. She lays it on her head and I watch her try and stay still. It doesn't last long. Within ten minutes she is tossing and turning again. Holding her head and groaning. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do. Henry was never like this. He never got sick except the occasional cold and one time he had a stomach bug that had been going around the school. I try to think of everything she has done since I met her. She was really excited to talk to someone about what she enjoyed.

Over the course of an hour though she looked like she was going to keel over any second. She had been pale, sweaty and nauseous. She obviously had a headache. Misty said something about the date and then gave Emory a pair of sunglasses. I glance at Emory and excuse myself. I want to look up the symptoms and I don't want the light from my iPhone to bother her.

When I get into the hall I pull out my phone and look up her symptoms. What comes up is Migraine headaches. It has everything that I typed in from the child rubbing one of their eyes to avoiding bright lights. This is definitely what she has. I hear her moaning so I go back in and sit on the bed with her.

For the next couple of hours I have never felt so useless in my entire life. I can't do anything to help her. She looks so stressed that I start to try and rub her head but she doesn't want to be touched. So I just sit here as she writhes in agony. The other girls come back and I realize why Emory doesn't have a roommate. This might freak the younger kids out to see their friend like this. And even though they are all down stairs we can still here them and they aren't helping her calm down.

When Emory finally falls asleep from exhaustion it's about ten o'clock. She had been delirious the last hour. I lean over and kiss her forehead before I walk out of her room. As I walk downstairs I see Maggie sitting at the kitchen table. She looks up when she hears my heals on the steps.

"How is she?" She asks me. I shrug my shoulders

"She's asleep now. So…." She nods her head like she understands.

"Come sit down for a minute. Let's chat."

I walk over and sit across from her. "So, she has migraine headaches?" I ask.

She looks at me quizzically and I inform her of my research. "Is that right?"

"Yes, that's right. She has always had them. Her medical records say she was diagnosed when she was three. She gets them about every two months if not more frequent."

I sigh. "I can't see a baby going through that. It's bad enough that she is going through it now, but at that age they don't understand what's going on. When was she diagnosed?"

"Well, her mom was a nurse, so she was aware of the problem when Emory was younger and she had Emory diagnosed when she was three. Emory now sees a pediatrician that especially works for the system. The doctor has Emory documenting her migraines to try and find a trigger."

I tilt my head sideways in confusions. "Trigger?"

"Something that causes it. For a while we thought we found it. If she didn't eat she would get one. But then she would eat huge meals and still be fetal on the floor by three o'clock in the afternoon. So we aren't holding out hope. But Emory seems to be. She writes everything from what she had to eat the night before to her TV schedule."

I try and take all of the information in, but I have so many more questions. "How long do they usually last?"

She shrugs her shoulders. "It depends when they start. But they never go away unless she sleeps for over six hours."

"Medication doesn't help?" I ask curious for the answer.

"No! We have tried everything and it's torture for her because she hates taking pills. When we were experiments with dosages we tried to get her to take four pills. We found out after that, she wouldn't tell us about her headaches until she couldn't possibly keep it from us anymore. So we stopped making her take pills because they didn't work and she couldn't swallow them without throwing them back up anyway because her reflex was so bad."

I thought about how awful it must have been trying to keep that much pain in and not let anyone know because you didn't want to take the medication that didn't help in the first place. "So, when she wakes up in the morning she will be fine?" I ask.

"There is a good chance she will be. But she didn't eat dinner so it's possible she could wake up with it still."

I frown in confusion. "I thought you said that wasn't the trigger?"

Maggie sighs. "She has multiple triggers. And it's not just one thing at a time that causes them. Her body is just very complex. We just can't keep up. We find one trigger and another one shows up. One time we got lemonade from the grocery store for the kids and Emory loved it. But she had five headaches that week, so she had to stop drinking them. The whole situation is confusing. Nothing is absolute. That is why she never stayed in a foster home for long and they sent her to us. Not many people want to have to take care of a sick child that's not even theirs."

I scoff at her last statement. How could people have just sent her away? A child especially like her needs stability. It makes me hurt even more for Emory. I know I shouldn't but I already want to adopt her and take her home with me.

Like she read my mind Maggie asks; "I don't mean to be forward but were you leaning towards adopting Emory?"

I know what I feel but I try not to sound so set on my decision incase it didn't happen. I mean one of the other couples might want to adopt Emory. I tell myself that it would be ok. All that matters is that she would have a home. But I know I would be crushed. I want to get to know her and take her home and love her. My heart would break. Again. I immediately shoot that thought down. Not the time, not the place. I finally remember she had asked me a question. "Well, I hope to, to be honest. If she wants that is." I will give her the choice. I don't want to bring a reluctant child home with me to live for the rest of our lives. That wouldn't be fair to either of us.

"Well between you and me, the adoption will be an easy one. The state doesn't want to spend a dime on her and she might need to see a specialist in the future. Once they get wind of a well off woman wanting to adopt the sick girl, the adoption will go through immediately."

"That's good to know but was their anyone else interested in her at the Rec?"

"Honey, I don't think anyone got a chance to see her. The time for the adults and the girls to bond is afternoon activities. She is often sick during the time this happens. That is one of the reasons she hasn't been adopted yet. Well that and her sickness."

I frown at her answer. "Thank you for answering my questions. Would it be all right if I came by tomorrow to check on her around lunchtime to eat and then take her somewhere to get to know her?

Maggie smiles and walks me to the door. "Sure, honey. Have a safe drive home."

 **Thank you for reading the chapters. If I suck at writing please let me know. It is a lot of time and if it's not good I would like to change that. Next chapter will probably be up tomorrow. Once again I am only writing about my experience with migraines and it is not the same for everybody. I love reading you're reviews and having conversations about the characters on the show. Please continue with them.**


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